ir clamour and vexations available to
the assistance of the higher orbs." [309] "In eclipses of the moon,
the Greenlanders carry boxes and kettles to the roofs of their houses,
and beat on them as hard as they can." [310] With the Californian
Indians, "on an eclipse, all is consternation. They congregate and
sing, as some say to appease, and others to frighten, the evil spirits.
They believe that the devils are eating up the luminary, and they do
not cease until it comes forth in its wonted splendour." [311]
Among certain Indian tribes "dogs were supposed to stand in some
peculiar relation to the moon, probably because they howl at it, and
run at night; uncanny practices which have cost them dear in
reputation. The custom prevailed among tribes so widely asunder as
Peruvians, Tupis, Creeks, Iroquois, Algonkins, and Greenland
Eskimos, to thrash the curs most soundly during an eclipse. The
Creeks explained this by saying that the big dog was swallowing the
sun, and that by whipping the little ones they could make him desist.
What the big dog was they were not prepared to say. We know. It
was the night goddess, represented by the dog, who was thus
shrouding the world at midday." [312]

It is well known that Columbus found his acquaintance with the
calculations of astronomy of great practical value. For when, during
his last expedition, he was reduced to famine by the inhabitants of
the newly discovered continent, who kept him and his companions
prisoners, he, aware that an eclipse was at hand, threatened to
deprive them of the light of the moon, if they did not forthwith bring
him provisions. At first they did not care; but when the moon
disappeared, they brought abundance of supplies, with much
entreaty of pardon. This occurred on the 1st day of March, 1504, a
date which modern tables of lunar eclipses may fully verify.

"In the Mexican mythology we read of the woman serpent, or the
moon, devoured by the sun, a myth probably descriptive of the
changes in the phases of the moon." [313] More probably this myth
referred to the moon's eclipse; for Bradford tells us that "the
Mexicans believed when there was an eclipse of the sun or moon,
that one of those bodies was being devoured by the other. The
Peruvians believed these phenomena portended some great
calamity; that the eclipsed body was sick and about to die, in which
case the world would perish. As soon as an eclipse commenced,
they made a dreadful noise with their mus